Some thoughtful comments from Cliff Lynch on the new NDSA PDF/A-3 report. Butch Lazorchak Digital Archivist National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program Library of Congress [log in to unmask] 202-707-2603 facebook.com/digitalpreservation twitter.com/ndiipp -----Original Message----- From: CNI-ANNOUNCE -- News from the Coalition [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 2:40 PM To: CNI-ANNOUNCE -- News from the Coalition Subject: [CNI-ANNOUNCE] NSDA Report on Implications of New PDF/A-3 Standard I wanted to share the announcement of a new report from the National Digital Stewardship Alliance on the PDF/A-3 file format specification that was released in late 2012. The PDF/A specifications are fairly widely used to define a "more preservable" subset of the hugely complex general PDF specification (A is for "archival"). The new "incremental" upgrade to PDF/A raises some very nasty issues for institutions relying on this specification in an archival context; at the very least, migration to this new version is going to take some careful consideration, and potentially some substantial expense and disruption. There's a helpful short overview on the Library of Congress Digital Preservation blog at: http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/02/new-ndsa-report-the-benefits-and-risks-of-the-pdfa-3-file-format-for-archival-institutions/ The full report is at http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/working_groups/documents/NDSA_PDF_A3_report_final022014.pdf Many thanks to NDSA for alerting the community to this serious potential problem, and for a good analysis of the issues involved. Clifford Lynch ============================================================== This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list <[log in to unmask]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[log in to unmask]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[log in to unmask]> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <[log in to unmask]> To postpone your subscription, E-mail to <[log in to unmask]> To resume mail list message delivery from postpone mode, E-mail to <[log in to unmask]> Send administrative queries to <[log in to unmask]> Visit the CNI-ANNOUNCE e-mail list archive at <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-ANNOUNCE/>. ############################ To unsubscribe from the NDSA-ALL list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://list.digitalpreservation.gov/scripts/wa-DIGITAL.exe?SUBED1=NDSA-ALL&A=1